Iman, portrayed by Payman Maadi, adeptly portrays hesitations and second thoughts through his expressions. This movie truly highlights Payman Maadi's acting prowess. Conversely, his wife fails to effectively convey these emotions. Despite the story revolving around Iman and being presented from his perspective, his wife's inability to respond to him hampers their ability to convey the intended message to the audience.

Another compelling aspect of the movie is Iman's dilemma. He must decide between prioritizing himself or his family. Strikingly, neither choice brings him complete satisfaction; opting for his family leaves him feeling unfulfilled, while choosing himself induces guilt.

The beginning of the movie was great, but everything that followed was nonsensical. The actors, including the children, were amazing, and the story was surprisingly good. I highly recommend this movie because it offers a unique perspective. However, there are many aspects of the movie that I do not comprehend. For instance, the director gave enough hints to explain why Iman and his family fled Iran, but then summarized the whole movie with one dialogue in which Iman reveals he is gay to the case officer. This seemed unnecessary since the movie had already portrayed this aspect.

Additionally, everything after the performance night seemed unnecessary and could have been omitted from the movie. The movie should have concluded with the wife playing piano, the children cheering, and Iman's expression. I am still unsure about what the movie was trying to convey. Was it about Iman, the challenges faced by the gay community in Iran, the difficulty of decision-making, or asylum seekers? Although the movie touched on many topics, as a whole, it did not make much sense.

The acting is good, there's no doubt about that, and the whole film has atmosphere and mood throughout, enough to keep us watching for the whole two hours.

The frustating thing is that the story isn't really told, it's only hinted at in vague terms, so it felt like and opportunity missed.

There are a few reviews here giving it top marks and calling it landmark cinema, but often film makers fall for the temptation of coming here to try and pump up theor movie with top notch reviews. In this case, they've also come back to upvote all their reviews and downvote the real ones, and I expect this review to get the same treatment. It's a shame, it would be so much better to let it find its own audience.